- Buckley, Christopher.
Supreme Courtship.
New York: Twelve, 2008.
ISBN 978-0-446-57982-7.
-
You know you're about to be treated to the highest level
of political farce by a master of the genre when you open
a book which begins with the sentence:
Supreme Court Associate Justice J. Mortimer Brinnin's
deteriorating mental condition had been the subject of
talk for some months now, but when he showed up for oral
argument with his ears wrapped in aluminum foil, the
consensus was that the time had finally come for him to
retire.
The departure of Mr. Justice Brinnin created a vacancy which
embattled President Donald Vanderdamp attempted to fill with two
distinguished jurists boasting meagre paper trails, both of
whom were humiliatingly annihilated in hearings before
the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose chairman, loquacious
loose cannon and serial presidential candidate Dexter
Mitchell, coveted the seat for himself.
After rejection of his latest nominee, the frustrated president was
channel surfing at Camp David when he came across the wildly popular
television show Courtroom Six featuring television (and
former Los Angeles Superior Court) judge Pepper Cartwright dispensing
down-home justice with her signature Texas twang and dialect. Let
detested Senator Mitchell take on that kind of popularity,
thought the Chief Executive, chortling at the prospect, and before
long Judge Pepper is rolled out as the next nominee, and prepares for
the confirmation fight.
I kind of expected this story to be about how an authentic
straight-talking human being confronts the “Borking”
judicial nominees routinely receive in today's Senate, but it's
much more and goes way beyond that, which I shall refrain from
discussing to avoid spoilers. I found the latter half of the
book less satisfying that the first—it seemed like once
on the court Pepper lost some of her spice, but I suppose
that's realistic (yet who expects realism in farces?). Still,
this is a funny book, with hundreds of laugh out loud well-turned
phrases and Buckley's customary delightfully named characters.
The fractured Latin and snarky footnotes are an extra treat.
This is not a
roman à clef,
but you will recognise a number of Washington figures upon which
various characters were modelled.
November 2008 